MARTIN SAMUEL: Aaron Lennon comes of age and Beckham slips into the shadows

For Aaron Lennon, the time is now. It was little more than two years ago that he was first given the job of making the nation overcome its infatuation with David Beckham, but it may as well have been a different age.

There was a man on the right flank for England at Wembley last night as opposed to the boy we had previously seen.

Things change. Wearing the No 7 shirt under Steve McClaren in the maelstrom of a failing European Championship campaign was a poisoned chalice for Lennon. The team he came into was inhibited and timid, that marshalled by Fabio Capello is confident and expansive.

These days, Lennon, in scintillating form for Tottenham, is in perfect tune with the mood. The way he seized the initiative seemed to encapsulate England's new-found confidence.

Have a nice trip: Aaron Lennon is brought crashing down by Simunic for the early penalty that set England on their way

The last time England played Croatia, in Zagreb a year ago, Theo Walcott announced a new era for English football with an incredible hat-trick yet this, in its own way, was as impressive.

Walcott carried no baggage into that game. He was just a young man desperate to make an impact and played with freedom. For Lennon, it was different. This was his second time around. Had he disappointed, he might not have got a third.

Even this opportunity has been some time coming. Lennon was given a chance to succeed Beckham, England's golden No 7, after the dismal 2006 World Cup campaign but shrank from the challenge.

It was after he played two very ordinary games against Israel and Andorra in March 2007 that McClaren reneged on his word and selected Beckham again. In that context, credit is due to Capello's restorative powers. He opted for the man of the moment, gave him the confidence to replicate his club game and was rewarded.

Once more, Capello demonstrated that Italian managers are not all about caution.

And while it would be premature to view this performance as the line drawn beneath Beckham's international career, it may be the beginning of the end - even if he was allowed his standard, 10-minute cameo late in the second half.

Walcott and now Lennon have shown that England are best with pace on the right and Capello's call should be between that pair for a starting place, with the loser as understudy.

It is not that Beckham has done anything wrong; more that his young rivals have at last emerged from his shadow. It had to happen eventually: they just needed space to breath.

McClaren's plan was to replace Beckham with Lennon as early as September 2006 when the European Championship campaign began.

He had been an impressive substitute in the World Cup and the switch made sense. Injury intervened, however, and by the time Lennon got his chance there was an altogether different atmosphere around the camp.

McClaren had suffered a humiliating defeat in Croatia and dropped points at home to Macedonia. He had utterly lost the supporters who were already ill-disposed towards him as a relic of the Sven Goran Eriksson regime.

England faced an uphill struggle to qualify from what had been wrongly painted as an easy group and the decision to ditch Beckham, regarded as bold and innovative at first, had been revised as an error and an unnecessary slight against a loyal servant.

Lennon was launched into a turgid goalless draw in Israel followed by the poisonous atmosphere of the away fixture in Andorra, when England's squad players retreated to the safety of the dressing-room for fear of attack from their own fans. Lennon struggled and was soon discarded, replaced by Beckham and later Shaun Wright-Phillips. It has been a long road back.

Out with the old, in with the new: David Beckham comes on for Lennon against Croatia, but it's the LA Galaxy man who has had to make way on the pitch

This is maybe what he needed. To be the man who replaced the man who replaced Beckham. To take to the field without the pressure of succeeding the one English sportsman of recent years whose capacity to consistently place himself at the centre of the story rivals that of Andrew Flintoff.

The good news for Lennon is that England are no longer looking for the new Beckham. There is no new Beckham, we understand that, just as there is no new Michael Owen with Capello at the helm.

The coach does not work with superstars, lucky charms or messiahs. He picks teams. And Lennon, like Walcott, like Emile Heskey or Jermain Defoe, can be part of a greater whole.

Lennon is not expected to replicate the winning of games with the swing of a golden boot; he is required to do his job, to frighten defenders by running at them, to create opportunities and goals.

On Wednesday night he did this with such conviction that he had the match won and England's place at the World Cup confirmed within 17 minutes.

Those who advocate Beckham's inclusion in the squad admit to a trade-off. When he plays, England lose pace but gain the deadly accuracy of his crossing. Beckham may not run like the young colts but they do not have his innate ability to create chances.

The question Lennon' s performance asked was: why compromise?

Beckham could not have won the penalty that set England on the way to victory, when Lennon burst into the Croatia penalty area and drew a clumsy challenge from Josip Simunic. Even the most sceptical observer would have immediately recognised a foul.

The most significant moment came 11 minutes later, however, when Lennon proved that with experience comes greater control and awareness. The cross that set up the second goal for Steven Gerrard could have come from Beckham's own sweet spot.

The fact Beckham's arrival as a substitute received a more rapturous response than the announcement of Lennon's man-of-the-match award indicates the bizarre influence of modern celebrity.

Some will see praise for Lennon as just another stick wielded by the Beckham-phobic. It is nothing of the sort.

Even the older man acknowledges that the time to stand aside will come and all Lennon's display intimated was that it could be sooner rather than later.

The figure in the No 7 shirt looked ready. This England team looks ready. And if not now, when?